Marco Polo Presnja Hotel, Moscow

This hotel was the crown jewel in our visit in Russia. It's small, extremely modern, and in a delightful neighborhood called the Patriarch's Pond, which is a wooded lake. The service is breathtaking and the staff is super friendly. They gave us champagne to celebrate our arrival. We didn't have train tickets for St. Petersburg, and the front desk (ask for Oksana) got on the phone, sifted thru all the red tape, and got our tickets purchased and delivered by courier within 6 hours. It's a 20-minute walk to Red Square and 10 minutes to the nearest subway stations. Wonderful restaurants nearby. Breakfast was a buffet and was delicious. Don't waste your money at the big chains (one big chain charged us a mind-boggling $510/night for a two-bed room), stay here. I can't recommend this place highly enough. Only negative was that two-bed rooms have tiny twin beds pushed together, but all the hotels in Russia seemed to do this.